Are You Afraid?
by StarfallGalaxy
Summary: "Are you scared of Zim?" It comes in the middle of the night without warning, the Irken having broken in after a rainstorm. ZADF, ZAGF


"Are you scared of Zim?"

It comes in the middle of the night without warning, the Irken having broken in after a rainstorm. He was huddled under the bed now like some sort of monster with his claws over his eyes. But Dib just had sunk to the floor to watch the little lizard, no complaints at all. He sat there comptiplatively while the body under his bed curled into itself, antennae seemingly trying to find him the way they kept going near his hand before pulling back.

Dib has been asked this before, though much more mockingly. Then, he would have said 'never' but now? He didn't know what to say. The question hung in the air, it's blunt tone echoing around them in this room.

Are you scared of Zim?

Was he? He'd always call Zim a monster with the intent of irking the Irken but did he really believe that? Gingerly, the young boy ran his fingers down the scars on his arm from the time the alien clawed him for abandoning him back in the Nightmare World. Initially, he knew, he'd been afraid of the little nuisance. Zim was destructive, a threat, some who had charged into his ribcage to rip all of those stupid walls down.

The alien had made him feel anger, sadness, a weight, a lightness. He tossed everything Dib knew about aliens into the wind, everything he knew about anything was gone. Zim had burrowed into his chest, taking over anything that he could until all of Dib's time was his as well. If he did something bad the boy would come to stop him, no questions. That was how they worked.

He'd been noticing more since Zim had shown up. He could name each one of the expressions on the Irken's face, his favorite ice cream, his favorite songs, what he liked to do when he thought no one was watching, what he would do if someone was. He noticed and was noticed, the two of them becoming basically inseparable in the eyes of everyone. It was always Dib vs Zim with no thought to anyone else's thoughts or feelings. Intertwined together forever.

The human no longer felt that chill he used to way back when. So he supposed he was used to him. Dib wasn't sure if that meant he was just numb to the idea of the alien or if he truly didn't fear him anymore. They were intimate, the two constantly fighting but with only anger behind it or maybe even…

Sometimes there was a fear. Dib could tell with both of them straight away. There had been an unspoken agreement between the two of them. If that fear gripped him or Zim still after a long night with covers over their heads, Zim wouldn't fight him. Instead the two would stay close together for most of the day, sometimes even changing seats or holding hands. They would still trade insults, pinch each other, maybe even slap each other upside the head but never brawl like how they usually did. It was…comforting, this protectiveness they'd developed with one another.

"I'm not afraid of you." I'm protective of you and I don't know why.

"I'm not either." A ping from the bed as his sister scored again.

Gaz had to think a little less than her brother about this issue. She had officially met Zim on her own, though she'd already seen him many times with her brother. She had looked up from her game once and there he was, just standing there staring.

She should have been angry but she just...wasn't.

Zim had become what was essentially the Other Older Brother in her life. The second annoying jerk that was above her only in age. He hung around their house so often now, it was normal to have him lurking on the couch or something if he wasn't fighting with Dib.

At least she had someone who was competent enough that when she played video games with him it was an actual challenge. It made it much more satisfying to beat the snot out of him. Everytime she did, the Irken would rage quit for two seconds before challenging her again. It was pretty funny even if it was annoying. He would constantly try to distracted her from the game, talking over it or making her look somewhere else. He actually got her, too, sometimes. Those were the times he'd win, his reward being a beatdown.

So no, she wasn't afraid at all of the stupid couch invader.

"Why are you asking us that for?" Dib scoffed, even though he laid on the ground so he was eye level to the alien hiding under there. "You know I'm not afraid of you. We fight so many times that I'm used to you. Is this another stupid plan of yours? Are you going to use fear or something?"

Gaz adjusted herself so she hung over the side of th bed, "I would help you with that one. Sounds funny having people scream while they run into walls."

"Gaz!"

Zim listened to the siblings, his antennae perking up to every pitch difference that showed in their voices. He could feel Dib's hand as it nonchalantly slipped under the bed so their fingers were resting against each other. Maybe what he saw in his Tallest's eyes wasn't true. Maybe he'd been mistaking excitement for fear. With a shaky breath he recalled Miyuki, what she looked like before… he shuddered. That look that made him go cold.

Why did he hate that look so much? He was an Invader, people were supposed to fear him! It wasn't like he wanted someone by his side when he was conquering like GIR or Minimoose or… he glanced at the two tan hands brushing his claws. So useless, so blunt.

Fragile.

That's what he told himself when his claws wrapped themselves against the two sets of fingers, Dib's more than Gaz's but her fingers were still trapped between theirs.

Staying there for most of the day.

**A/N: Okay, so obviously I'm way better at writing Dib than Gaz but I'm trying to practice! Peace out!**


End file.
